DishWorld, a live streaming multilanguage TV service, will be called Sling International, with monthly subscriptions starting at $15, Sling TV said in a Friday news release. DishWorld customers can update to the Sling International app, which offers an updated user interface, it said. Sling International offers channels in 18 languages, including Bengali, Kannada and Marathi language groups, it said. A Sling International app will be released for Samsung smart TVs, and customers can continue to use the DishWorld app, it said. Customers can watch content on Amazon Fire TV, Android devices, Fire TV Stick, iOS devices, Mac, PC, Roku and Xbox One, Sling TV said.

The FCC shouldn’t grant Globalstar “privileged” or “priority access” to the 2472 to 2483.5 MHz spectrum for its terrestrial low-power service (TLPS), Google said in an ex parte notice posted Friday in docket 13-213. Google also raised concerns that real-world operation of TLPS may “differ substantially” from the conditions that were tested at the commission. Globalstar rebuked critics of its testing conditions in recent filings (see 1503300050). “Globalstar’s request raises a basic question whether it is consistent with the public interest for a Commission licensee to leverage that permission to gain preferential use of spectrum outside the scope of its license, particularly when that other spectrum has been designated for unlicensed use on a shared basis,” Google said. Globalstar can instead ask the commission to operate an ancillary terrestrial network, like a 10 MHz time-division LTE system, on the spectrum above 2483.5, which it already has a license for, Google said. Google said Globalstar may need to submit an application for reallocation of the 2472 to 2483.5 MHz spectrum from unlicensed to exclusive use for the commission to review. Such an application isn’t necessary, said Globalstar General Counsel Barbee Ponder in an interview. “We really don’t understand why Google has at this late date decided to express any positions in the proceeding,” he said. “We think the FCC’s rules they proposed a year and a half ago are in the consumer’s best interests. The demonstrations we recently completed at the FCC show there is no harmful impact on unlicensed services.” Globalstar planned to have filed a response Monday to Google’s ex parte filing, he said.

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) outlined the equipment used for each demonstration of Globalstar's proposed terrestrial-low power service (TLPS) (see 1503300050), in a report posted Thursday in docket 13-213. The report included setups with photos and floor plans, transmissions parameters, including equivalent isotropically radiated power and data rate, and Wi-Fi channels that operated during the demos. OET staff didn't include analysis of the demos. Each party is expected to submit its own results and analyses, OET said.

BBC Global News signed a long-term agreement to broadcast its international news channel free-to-air in HD on SES' Astra at 19.2 degrees east on a multiplex operated and uplinked by SES starting Wednesday, SES said in a news release Wednesday. The channel is an HD version of BBC World News in English, SES said. More than 47 million people watch HDTV in about 52 percent of European satellite homes, it said. SES broadcasts more than 1,800 HD channels globally and more than 500 in Europe in 2014, it said.

Dish Network, Major League Baseball and MLB Advanced Media reached a multiyear carriage agreement, including the launch of MLB Extra Innings on Dish, Dish said in a news release Tuesday. The agreement offers authenticated access to streaming sports service MLB.TV, it said. Dish and MLB Network also reached a multi-year renewal agreement for continued carriage of MLB Network and MLB Network Strike Zone, which includes digital rights for the channels on DishAnywhere.com and the Dish Anywhere app, it said. MLB Network, channel 152, will be available in Dish's America's Top 200 programming and Multi-Sport packages, and MLB Network Strike Zone, channel 153, will be available in the sport package, it said. Dish will offer a free preview of MLB Extra Innings, channel 476 on Dish's Hopper or channel 900 for other set-top-boxes, starting April 6 through 12, it said. The channel is available for $195 for 2015, Dish said.

Aviwest, a global video contribution systems provider, is collaborating with Hughes Network Systems to improve delivery of video signals over Inmarsat's Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN), Aviwest said in a news release Tuesday. The Hughes 9211-high data rate (HDR) BGAN satellite terminal will transmit information in real time over an adaptive channel, and available satellite bit rate will increase above the minimum committed information rate level, it said. Aviwest's DMNG PRO video uplink system will compress video content according to network conditions, it said. This solution works for environments that lack Internet connection or have poor 3G or 4G cellular wireless network connections, Aviwest said. The provider will demonstrate a fully integrated system with DMNG PRO and Hughes 9211-HDR at the upcoming NAB Show in Las Vegas.

Dish Network expanded its Smart Home Services home entertainment installation to U.S. Amazon customers, Dish said in a news release Monday. The expansion coincides with the launch of Amazon's Home Services market, which lets Amazon customers compare installation offers from Dish and other service providers, it said.

Intelsat told front-office and other FCC International Bureau officials it opposes FCC two-degree spacing rules, said a filing posted Friday to docket 12-267. Nixing that separation would "remedy the competitive harm unfairly imposed on U.S. licensees and align U.S. licensing" with the ITU, said the satellite company. If the commission doesn't junk the rule, it should apply it only to beams serving all of the contiguous U.S., said Intelsat. It cited a recent order letting DirecTV build, launch and operate a Ku-band satellite: "As the FCC noted, beams that do not cover the U.S. are not in the scope of U.S. market access, need not be included in a two-degree spacing interference analysis, and are subject to the ITU’s satellite coordination procedures."

Intelsat got permission to modify its Intelsat 5 satellite to specify operations and extend the license term through Dec. 31, 2020, an order from the FCC on Friday said. The company can also conduct telemetry, tracking and command operations necessary to maintain the space station's orbital location, the order said.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York City approved LightSquared’s reorganization plan Thursday, allowing the company to move forward with its plan to end its Chapter 11 bankruptcy trial and repay its top creditors. The plan, presented to Judge Shelley Chapman earlier this month, means certain creditors will received $400 million in cash, with $320 million going to SPSO, which is controlled by Dish Network CEO Charles Ergen. Any notes offered to creditors will be paid off over a five-year period. LightSquared would leave bankruptcy under the control of Centerbridge Partners and Fortress Investment Group (see 1503100066). LightSquared CEO Doug Smith said in a statement: “This has been a long journey, and today's ruling will allow us to emerge from Chapter 11 well-capitalized and better positioned to achieve our goals.”